Speaking of gas stations, shouldn't there be a way to hook generators up to run the pumps?
Yes, you can hook a generator directly into the fuse box and you won't really be able to tell that the power is off. You have to shut off the old inbound feed, so that you don't try to power up the whole neighborhood, and so that you don't fry any line workers.
You also have to know which wires to connect where, and you have to be careful about what breakers you leave on to make sure you have the capacity to run the pumps. Pumps, like all motors take a lot more electricity than appliances like computers and televisions, especially when you first start the motors, so you might want to bring them up one pump at a time after the generator is on and settled. Make sure that the spare gas cans for the generator are the first things you fill up when the power comes on, so you don't find yourself in a catch-22 situation if the generator runs dry.
Very few gas stations already have this set up. The ones that don't will have to find a generator, which are typically in short supply during outages, get it to the station, and get it hooked up, probably needing an electrician.
Unless the station's owner is there, the employees aren't likely to give his gas away for free, but the computerized registers are down, the network they connect to is down, and that part of the system is beyond the reach of the generator.
A lot of things have to come together to get a station up and running, and when it does, you not only have to find the working gas station before you run out of gas, you also have to find it before everyone else finds it and the station itself runs out of gas.
Bottom line, for a good while, the demand is going to exceed the supply by orders of magnitude, and you need to have your tanks full and maybe some in reserve to tide you over. Considering the gouging we saw on 9/11, it might not be a bad idea to have a small stash of hard currency on hand either.